S100A1 blocks the interaction between p53 and mdm2 and decreases cell proliferation activity

PLoS One. 2020 Jun 4;15(6):e0234152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234152. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

About 50% of human cancers across the globe arise due to a mutation in the p53 gene which gives rise to its functional inactive form, and in the rest of the cancer the efficacy of active p53 (wild-type) is hindered by MDM2-mediated degradation. Breakdown of the p53-MDM2 association may constitute an effective strategy to stimulate or reinstate the activity of wild type p53, thereby reviving the p53 tumor suppressor capability. S100A1 has been revealed to associate with the N-terminal domain of MDM2 and p53 protein. We utilized NMR spectroscopy to study the interface amongst the S100A1 and N-terminal domain of MDM2. Additionally, the S100A1-MDM2 complex generated through the HADDOCK program was then superimposed with the p53 (peptide) -MDM2 complex reported earlier. The overlay indicated that a segment of S100A1 could block the interaction of p53 (peptide) -MDM2 complex significantly. To further justify our assumption, we performed HSQC-NMR titration for the S100A1 and p53 N-terminal domain (p53-TAD). The data obtained indicated that the S100A1 segment comprising nearly 17 residues have some common residues that interact with both MDM2 and p53-TAD. Further, we synthesized the 17-residue peptide derived from the S100A1 protein and attached it to the cell-penetrating HIV-TAT peptide. The HSQC-NMR competitive binding experiment revealed that Peptide 1 could successfully interfere with the p53-MDM2 interaction. Furthermore, functional effects of the peptide was validated in cancer cells. The results showed that Peptide 1 effectively inhibited cell proliferation, and increased the protein levels of p53 and its downstream p21 in MCF-7 cells. Treatment of Peptide 1 resulted in cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, and also induced apoptotic cell death at higher concentration. Taken together, the results suggest that disruption of the interaction of p53 and MDM2 by Peptide 1 could activate normal p53 functions, leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death in cancer cells. We proposed here that S100A1 could influence the p53-MDM2 interaction credibly and possibly reactivates the wild type p53 pathway.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Humans
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Domains
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2 / chemistry
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2 / metabolism*
  • S100 Proteins / chemistry
  • S100 Proteins / metabolism*
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / chemistry
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / metabolism*

Substances

  • S100 Proteins
  • S100A1 protein
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53
  • MDM2 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology) Grant number MOST107B307915 (Chin Yu), MOST 108-2320-B-039-013 (Ruey-Hwang Chou), and from China Medical University, CMU108-MF-49 (Ruey-Hwang Chou). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. MOST URL- https://www.most.gov.tw/?l=en CMU URL- https://english.cmu.edu.tw/index.php.